So it's a Friday night and I'm doing homework (working on my research paper on international development, rather). Sigh.
My trip to NYC was pretty fun, but very tiring. We went and saw Ground Zero, Wall Street, Times Square, Central Park, and Yankee Stadium. And we passed by Madison Square Garden, and saw the Empire State Building and the Liberty of Statue from afar. But man it was tiring! On the day, my roommate Luke and I must have walked about 200 blocks. (70 of that was to and from the bus station in central Philly.) I'm too lazy to put pics up, but maybe I'll get around to it at some point.
NYC was way bigger than Philadelphia. There were tall buildings everywhere, so that vast swaths of the city were blanketed in shadow. Fruitwise, comparing NYC to Philly is like comparing apples to oranges. And then Philadelphia compared to Eugene is like an orange to a grape. ... To make this more accurate, you have to remember that NYC is a big apple (get it?). And then Philadelphia is a mandarin orange, which is smaller than normal oranges. And Eugene is... a raisin. All shriveled up compared to these cities. (To those who love Eugene but hate raisins, I'm sorry.)
I know, that analogy was horrendous.
Anyways, I have a lot of homework/other work this weekend, and I'm not happy. And I have to find a costume for a character in Marvel v. Capcom for an Ultimate tournament next weekend. Not happy. And it's still frickin hot here! I know the great majority of you readers out there cannot empathize, because you are shivering and blow-drying your feet, perhaps getting pelted by hail. But heck, I sweat myself to sleep. Awesome.
Anyways, the one thing I'm getting really pumped about is Ultimate. Not particularly my playing, nor the conditions of the field we practice on (it's going to be waterlogged after the sort of rain that just came down). Just the team. I feel like we have a pretty good team, and the region we play in is not that strong, so there's a good chance we can make it to Nationals in May! I'm going to do my best to get us there.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
New York! And some pictures.
Yeah! I'm taking the bus up to NYC tomorrow with my roommate Luke. I haven't been to the city, but he's been there five times, so we shan't get lost. We're planning to hit up downtown, midtown, and uptown, so I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures. Speaking of which...
I've decided to take more pictures with my phone, so that you can actually see for yourself what the heck is going on in my life. So here are some pictures...
A view of the Schuylkill River. Halfway between campus and downtown.
People doing the Macarena on the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This museum is the one with Rocky on the (outside) stairs (or so they say, I never watched the Rocky movies). Also, did you know that Penn spends the most of any U.S. university on orientation stuff? No wonder tuition costs so freakin much. The picture was taken a while ago, obviously.
My biology lecture. We had a guest speaker on that day.
Locust Walk on a lazy Friday afternoon. I take Locust Walk every day of the week to get somewhere, whether to get to classes or to head to the Commons to eat. It's usually a lot busier than the picture shows.
The Upper Quad gate (yeah I know, crappy picture, I took it while walking). Unfortunately I don't live in the quad.
I've decided to take more pictures with my phone, so that you can actually see for yourself what the heck is going on in my life. So here are some pictures...
A view of the Schuylkill River. Halfway between campus and downtown.
People doing the Macarena on the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This museum is the one with Rocky on the (outside) stairs (or so they say, I never watched the Rocky movies). Also, did you know that Penn spends the most of any U.S. university on orientation stuff? No wonder tuition costs so freakin much. The picture was taken a while ago, obviously.
My biology lecture. We had a guest speaker on that day.
Locust Walk on a lazy Friday afternoon. I take Locust Walk every day of the week to get somewhere, whether to get to classes or to head to the Commons to eat. It's usually a lot busier than the picture shows.
The Upper Quad gate (yeah I know, crappy picture, I took it while walking). Unfortunately I don't live in the quad.Sunday, October 7, 2007
Just some thoughts and happenings
It's a Sunday night, and I should be studying/doing homework like mad. I am so behind, and possibly seriously screwed for midterms, and my research project. But ah well!
And it's still so freakin hot here! Mid-80s. I don't think it's dipped below 75 since I got here in late August. BUT it's supposed to cool down to low 60s this weekend! And this weekend is fall break! Booyizzle!
I went to church today... for the first time since arriving at Penn. The church was actually a university branch of Grace Covenant Church, whose main line is located further off (there is also a branch at Temple University). And it just felt really good to be in church again. After being away from a place of worship for so long, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over me as worship started, almost to the point where I teared up. My faith had never been completely solid until the mission trip, and now I feel like I can't lose it. So going to church today was a really good experience.
So about the church. Service was located in a small auditorium-like room underneath a Penn building, and there were a LOT of people. And mostly Asian at that, which was a change of pace. So many Korean and Chinese people! (I do believe that there are few Japanese Christians; even in Japan Christianity does not hold much sway - most practice Shintoism.) The worship and hymns were alright, but I ended up almost screaming the worship songs because of 1) the loud instrumental, and 2) the masses of people doing just what I was doing. I miss the feeling of singing hymns in small groups, where the worship music just sounds more... beautiful, especially when the occasional harmony presents itself.
The pastor was a hoot. I say that in a semi-good way, because he was possibly the funniest religious man I have ever heard preach. I had a comedian preaching to me today about marriage and relationships (this is not meant to be demeaning). I mentioned that it was only semi-good, because the comedy seemed to dilute the meaning of the message for me. And the sermon went WAY too long, to the point where I got restless and started fidgeting. I'm going to try out some other churches in the area. Good thing there is a bevy of churches in the area.
If you want to know about the rest of my day, here it is. I soon thereafter went to a biology review session, where students basically asked the professor questions. (This was the boring one of my two biology professors - the other is a quirky British guy who emphasizes the superiority of England to the U.S.) I didn't really get anything out of it, so I just left. Then I went to the gym, where I witnessed an abso-frickin-lutely cult-like ARMY of people running in place, eyes glued to televisions on the wall. It was pretty mind-blowing. I decided against working out my lower body.
I'm going to study. And maybe later get my ass kicked at ping pong. I have like a 1-13 record against this one guy from LA, and I'm set to play him again tonight.
And it's still so freakin hot here! Mid-80s. I don't think it's dipped below 75 since I got here in late August. BUT it's supposed to cool down to low 60s this weekend! And this weekend is fall break! Booyizzle!
I went to church today... for the first time since arriving at Penn. The church was actually a university branch of Grace Covenant Church, whose main line is located further off (there is also a branch at Temple University). And it just felt really good to be in church again. After being away from a place of worship for so long, I just felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over me as worship started, almost to the point where I teared up. My faith had never been completely solid until the mission trip, and now I feel like I can't lose it. So going to church today was a really good experience.
So about the church. Service was located in a small auditorium-like room underneath a Penn building, and there were a LOT of people. And mostly Asian at that, which was a change of pace. So many Korean and Chinese people! (I do believe that there are few Japanese Christians; even in Japan Christianity does not hold much sway - most practice Shintoism.) The worship and hymns were alright, but I ended up almost screaming the worship songs because of 1) the loud instrumental, and 2) the masses of people doing just what I was doing. I miss the feeling of singing hymns in small groups, where the worship music just sounds more... beautiful, especially when the occasional harmony presents itself.
The pastor was a hoot. I say that in a semi-good way, because he was possibly the funniest religious man I have ever heard preach. I had a comedian preaching to me today about marriage and relationships (this is not meant to be demeaning). I mentioned that it was only semi-good, because the comedy seemed to dilute the meaning of the message for me. And the sermon went WAY too long, to the point where I got restless and started fidgeting. I'm going to try out some other churches in the area. Good thing there is a bevy of churches in the area.
If you want to know about the rest of my day, here it is. I soon thereafter went to a biology review session, where students basically asked the professor questions. (This was the boring one of my two biology professors - the other is a quirky British guy who emphasizes the superiority of England to the U.S.) I didn't really get anything out of it, so I just left. Then I went to the gym, where I witnessed an abso-frickin-lutely cult-like ARMY of people running in place, eyes glued to televisions on the wall. It was pretty mind-blowing. I decided against working out my lower body.
I'm going to study. And maybe later get my ass kicked at ping pong. I have like a 1-13 record against this one guy from LA, and I'm set to play him again tonight.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Into October
We're into October. It's almost been an entire MONTH of school already for me, which just seems insane. I'm bracing for bio and calc midterms, which are next week...
The Penn Ultimate team traveled to Penn St. last week for the Penn State Fall Phling tournament. It was fun... and tiring. We stayed in a cabin thirty minutes from the fields, and it was in the middle of the woods. It was really dense forest, and it looked like the kind of place where you would expect a serial killer to pop out and chop your head off. (It was probably the deciduous trees... if you think about it, you wouldn't really expect a serial killer in a coniferous forest. Maybe a big bear.) OH and another thing, the dude who was driving our car ran over a live deer. It had already been hit, and it was laying on the road. The dude didn't see it until it was too late, and at that point the deer RAISED ITS HEAD, and a loud 'crunch' was soon both heard and felt under the car. It was the most traumatic experience ever (at least in terms of animal-related happenings). The next morning we took the same road to the fields, and there was a disgusting mess on the road.
Oh, by the way, we won the tournament. We were playing against mostly teams we were expected to beat. But we did beat Edinboro, which (according to the UPA) was ranked way above us. So, awesome. In our first game against Haverford, I got two handblocks and a layout Callahan (yeah I know, when does that ever happen to me???). But the Callahan was caused by a floaty throw by a Haverford handler, and I just laid out for it as if I was on offense.
And we're supposed to be scrimmaging against Princeton this weekend. (Doesn't that just sound weird? I'm going to play Ultimate against Princeton. What??? It just seems unreal, because the Ivy League is not just a faraway concept any more, it's a reality. I actually still get surprised when someone reminds me that I'm going to school in the Ivy League.)
Anyhow, my biology class is causing me a lot of stress these days. Too much work! And I feel like I should be reading everything that is either assigned or recommended, so that I am as ready as possible for my midterms. I think part of that is caused by the perfectionist in me who wants everything to be complete - for my knowledge of this stuff to be really comprehensive. Bleh. And I'm getting pretty anxious because only 20% of all students can get an A with the curve... so I've got to be really ready for this exam, because most of the other students here will be.
And I'm really happy that I didn't get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Penn, unlike those schools, doesn't have that too-good mentality, which is definitely a good thing. There aren't (many) snobs here. The only school that I would still like to go to more than Penn is... Stanford. It's on the West Coast, and has a bomb-shizzle Ultimate team...
The Penn Ultimate team traveled to Penn St. last week for the Penn State Fall Phling tournament. It was fun... and tiring. We stayed in a cabin thirty minutes from the fields, and it was in the middle of the woods. It was really dense forest, and it looked like the kind of place where you would expect a serial killer to pop out and chop your head off. (It was probably the deciduous trees... if you think about it, you wouldn't really expect a serial killer in a coniferous forest. Maybe a big bear.) OH and another thing, the dude who was driving our car ran over a live deer. It had already been hit, and it was laying on the road. The dude didn't see it until it was too late, and at that point the deer RAISED ITS HEAD, and a loud 'crunch' was soon both heard and felt under the car. It was the most traumatic experience ever (at least in terms of animal-related happenings). The next morning we took the same road to the fields, and there was a disgusting mess on the road.
Oh, by the way, we won the tournament. We were playing against mostly teams we were expected to beat. But we did beat Edinboro, which (according to the UPA) was ranked way above us. So, awesome. In our first game against Haverford, I got two handblocks and a layout Callahan (yeah I know, when does that ever happen to me???). But the Callahan was caused by a floaty throw by a Haverford handler, and I just laid out for it as if I was on offense.
And we're supposed to be scrimmaging against Princeton this weekend. (Doesn't that just sound weird? I'm going to play Ultimate against Princeton. What??? It just seems unreal, because the Ivy League is not just a faraway concept any more, it's a reality. I actually still get surprised when someone reminds me that I'm going to school in the Ivy League.)
Anyhow, my biology class is causing me a lot of stress these days. Too much work! And I feel like I should be reading everything that is either assigned or recommended, so that I am as ready as possible for my midterms. I think part of that is caused by the perfectionist in me who wants everything to be complete - for my knowledge of this stuff to be really comprehensive. Bleh. And I'm getting pretty anxious because only 20% of all students can get an A with the curve... so I've got to be really ready for this exam, because most of the other students here will be.
And I'm really happy that I didn't get into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Penn, unlike those schools, doesn't have that too-good mentality, which is definitely a good thing. There aren't (many) snobs here. The only school that I would still like to go to more than Penn is... Stanford. It's on the West Coast, and has a bomb-shizzle Ultimate team...
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Wall of Pictures!
So here's the little board of pictures that I finally got around to putting up. Some little known facts about it I will now share with you...
1. I used eight thumbtacks (out of a possible nine).
2. Erin's picture got its own thumbtack.
3. Mary's and Kate's pictures got marred with ink...
4. I am in this picture more than anyone else! (thanks James)
5. I miss all these people.
6. Aubri's and Ginny's pictures are conspicuously absent.
7. If Luke had a senior picture, I would put that up.
8. Not everyone on this board went to Churchill. That includes my parents...
... I guess not all of those were little-known.
Monday, September 17, 2007
An Update!
Hey all, sorry I've been so lazy about updating. I've been more than a little busy lately (this isn't any old lazy day in Korea, where I had no homework and a lot of free time). One night I had an energy drink to keep awake to do homework.
Penn has been real fun so far. Making friends is the shizzle, especially when they are from so many different places. On Saturdays a few of us gather to watch college football; one of my roommates is a USC fan, one of my other friends is a Rutgers fan, another is a Michigan fan, and so forth. A much better way to spend Saturdays than watching Penn football. (Penn just lost their first game at home to Lafayette 8-7. They were up 7-3, then purposely gave up a safety late in the game, only to have Lafayette score a game-winning field goal. Pathetic.) And one of my roommates spends half his life playing Zelda on N64. But that's a whole 'nother story.
Ultimate has been kind of a challenge so far. Practices haven't been too great, simply because 1) it's really hot, 2) the fields are crappy, 3) I'm out of shape, and 4) the team is not solid on fundamentals, so scrimmages are messy. This past weekend we played at Club Sectionals in New Jersey, and split into Penn White (my team) and Penn Purple (these are our team colors... rather South-Eugene-esque if you ask me. But the school's actual colors are red, white, and blue. Weird, huh?). We lost our first three games by a combined score of 39-4. It was some of the most frustrating Ultimate I have ever played... We won our next game, but proceeded to lose both our games on Sunday.
But not all hope is lost! One of our team captains plays for Pike, a local club team (and a pretty decent one at that). And there's another freshman on the team who played for (and co-coached) the University School of Nashville, which is a pretty good team in the East. He's definitely a better player than me, so there's a foundation here. The best case scenario is that he and I are captains for senior year (and we win Nationals).
Playing in the tournament, however, really screwed up my homework situation... I have a lot of homework, including a four-page research project proposal by Wednesday. I have to research a dilemma in international development, and I have decided to pick the problem of water pollution in Korea, China, and Thailand. (In case you've noticed, I'm really into that environment stuff...) I have to turn in a combined 24 pages of writing by the end of the semester. Oddly enough, I'm really looking forward to it.
Otherwise, math is seriously kicking my ass, almost to the point that I want to stop taking it after this semester and consider a different major (perhaps a different career!). But biology is pretty swell so far, and I'm really looking forward to taking chemistry next year. So we'll see.
Oh yeah, good luck to everyone going to OSU!
Penn has been real fun so far. Making friends is the shizzle, especially when they are from so many different places. On Saturdays a few of us gather to watch college football; one of my roommates is a USC fan, one of my other friends is a Rutgers fan, another is a Michigan fan, and so forth. A much better way to spend Saturdays than watching Penn football. (Penn just lost their first game at home to Lafayette 8-7. They were up 7-3, then purposely gave up a safety late in the game, only to have Lafayette score a game-winning field goal. Pathetic.) And one of my roommates spends half his life playing Zelda on N64. But that's a whole 'nother story.
Ultimate has been kind of a challenge so far. Practices haven't been too great, simply because 1) it's really hot, 2) the fields are crappy, 3) I'm out of shape, and 4) the team is not solid on fundamentals, so scrimmages are messy. This past weekend we played at Club Sectionals in New Jersey, and split into Penn White (my team) and Penn Purple (these are our team colors... rather South-Eugene-esque if you ask me. But the school's actual colors are red, white, and blue. Weird, huh?). We lost our first three games by a combined score of 39-4. It was some of the most frustrating Ultimate I have ever played... We won our next game, but proceeded to lose both our games on Sunday.
But not all hope is lost! One of our team captains plays for Pike, a local club team (and a pretty decent one at that). And there's another freshman on the team who played for (and co-coached) the University School of Nashville, which is a pretty good team in the East. He's definitely a better player than me, so there's a foundation here. The best case scenario is that he and I are captains for senior year (and we win Nationals).
Playing in the tournament, however, really screwed up my homework situation... I have a lot of homework, including a four-page research project proposal by Wednesday. I have to research a dilemma in international development, and I have decided to pick the problem of water pollution in Korea, China, and Thailand. (In case you've noticed, I'm really into that environment stuff...) I have to turn in a combined 24 pages of writing by the end of the semester. Oddly enough, I'm really looking forward to it.
Otherwise, math is seriously kicking my ass, almost to the point that I want to stop taking it after this semester and consider a different major (perhaps a different career!). But biology is pretty swell so far, and I'm really looking forward to taking chemistry next year. So we'll see.
Oh yeah, good luck to everyone going to OSU!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
So far.
Penn has been pretty alright so far. Orientation and moving in have been really hectic, since a lot of the stuff I needed couldn't be brought by plane (furniture, basically). I've been weaving in and out of campus with my family, buying stuff, getting me back for orientation events, etc. Not to mention that is being done in the middle of a very big city.
I said goodbye to my family today, which was tougher than I thought it was going to be. As I write, they are probably on the plane from San Francisco to Eugene, or perhaps have arrived already. I definitely couldn't have gotten all of moving in without them...
I was too busy today to even watch any football on TV. After some orientation stuff in the morning, moving more stuff in, and saying goodbye to my family in the afternoon, it was already 4. At that point I cleaned up my room and got ready to go to a party Penn was hosting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is the location of the famous steps in "Rocky" (or so I've heard). I hung out with my roommate Luke, who is from New Mexico, and his friend, but proceeded to make few acquaintances thereafter. (Sometimes I wish one of my friends from Eugene had come to Penn with me, so that I wouldn't have to force myself into groups that seem to have already formed, among people from the same high school.) Later on I hung out with two girls from Oregon who I had met in Portland several weeks ago.
The other day my family traveled to New Jersey to meet one of my dad's friends from a long time ago, who lives in Cherry Hill. It was only a thirty-minute drive from Penn's campus, and it was really cool to see the scenery and different environs of the east coast (crossing the Delaware into New Jersey was especially awesome). The license plates might be from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and such, it's quite interesting. I've seen many a thing in this city with either 'Ben' or 'Franklin' associated with it. We got to the house of my dad's friend (who is a pastor) and stayed and talked for a while. I got to talk with the pastor's son, who is a year older than me and attends NYU. Basically, I now have a refuge on the east coast, if I ever get a craving for Korean food, or if I get bored over Thanksgiving. It makes me feel a LOT more comfortable, actually...
Philadelphia is, for the most part, a beautiful city. At least center city is, in terms of 'wow' factor. The skyscrapers are amazing, and the museum and city hall are beautiful as well. Brick buildings dominate the cityscape. The campus is pretty as well, although it can get pretty busy with traffic. Being in a big city brings both its pros and cons, I suppose.
Penn is very much a party school. It's study hard, party equally as hard. I haven't gone to any parties yet, and am not very enthused about going to one, but I might try one before the semester is over. Being in Eugene IHS definitely contributed to my discomfort in this regard, because IHSers don't really party hard, do they? If I do go to a party, I will definitely refrain from heavy drinking.
My roommates seem okay. Luke is the one I hang out with the most. The others are Stephen, from St. Louis, and Ben, from DC. Stephen is a Jewish engineer-to-be, and he is really busy. I don't know if I'll be hanging out with him much, he doesn't really seem to be one of those guys that you can just chill with. Ben is a 6'4" tech-savvy kid, who once told me that he thought he was pretty good at Ultimate. But I can tell by the way he throws around the phrase 'throw a Frisbee' (not using the word 'disc') that he is definitely not going to be that good.
Tomorrow is Sunday, but I won't be going to church. I haven't really made an effort to look for one yet, since I'm still trying to adjust to this new change of surroundings. And the thought of looking for one is daunting. I haven't met any Christian friends yet, and I have to decide whether I'm planning to attend a church on campus, or if I'm commuting to a church elsewhere in the city. And I have to start getting ready for Ultimate again! I guess I'm still getting settled in.
And now I'm settling into bed.
I said goodbye to my family today, which was tougher than I thought it was going to be. As I write, they are probably on the plane from San Francisco to Eugene, or perhaps have arrived already. I definitely couldn't have gotten all of moving in without them...
I was too busy today to even watch any football on TV. After some orientation stuff in the morning, moving more stuff in, and saying goodbye to my family in the afternoon, it was already 4. At that point I cleaned up my room and got ready to go to a party Penn was hosting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is the location of the famous steps in "Rocky" (or so I've heard). I hung out with my roommate Luke, who is from New Mexico, and his friend, but proceeded to make few acquaintances thereafter. (Sometimes I wish one of my friends from Eugene had come to Penn with me, so that I wouldn't have to force myself into groups that seem to have already formed, among people from the same high school.) Later on I hung out with two girls from Oregon who I had met in Portland several weeks ago.
The other day my family traveled to New Jersey to meet one of my dad's friends from a long time ago, who lives in Cherry Hill. It was only a thirty-minute drive from Penn's campus, and it was really cool to see the scenery and different environs of the east coast (crossing the Delaware into New Jersey was especially awesome). The license plates might be from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and such, it's quite interesting. I've seen many a thing in this city with either 'Ben' or 'Franklin' associated with it. We got to the house of my dad's friend (who is a pastor) and stayed and talked for a while. I got to talk with the pastor's son, who is a year older than me and attends NYU. Basically, I now have a refuge on the east coast, if I ever get a craving for Korean food, or if I get bored over Thanksgiving. It makes me feel a LOT more comfortable, actually...
Philadelphia is, for the most part, a beautiful city. At least center city is, in terms of 'wow' factor. The skyscrapers are amazing, and the museum and city hall are beautiful as well. Brick buildings dominate the cityscape. The campus is pretty as well, although it can get pretty busy with traffic. Being in a big city brings both its pros and cons, I suppose.
Penn is very much a party school. It's study hard, party equally as hard. I haven't gone to any parties yet, and am not very enthused about going to one, but I might try one before the semester is over. Being in Eugene IHS definitely contributed to my discomfort in this regard, because IHSers don't really party hard, do they? If I do go to a party, I will definitely refrain from heavy drinking.
My roommates seem okay. Luke is the one I hang out with the most. The others are Stephen, from St. Louis, and Ben, from DC. Stephen is a Jewish engineer-to-be, and he is really busy. I don't know if I'll be hanging out with him much, he doesn't really seem to be one of those guys that you can just chill with. Ben is a 6'4" tech-savvy kid, who once told me that he thought he was pretty good at Ultimate. But I can tell by the way he throws around the phrase 'throw a Frisbee' (not using the word 'disc') that he is definitely not going to be that good.
Tomorrow is Sunday, but I won't be going to church. I haven't really made an effort to look for one yet, since I'm still trying to adjust to this new change of surroundings. And the thought of looking for one is daunting. I haven't met any Christian friends yet, and I have to decide whether I'm planning to attend a church on campus, or if I'm commuting to a church elsewhere in the city. And I have to start getting ready for Ultimate again! I guess I'm still getting settled in.
And now I'm settling into bed.
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